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5 Best Third-Party Keyboards For iOS Brings Support For GIFs, Fancy Fonts And Themes [Alternative]

Although with the roll out of iOS 8, Apple eventually allowing users to install third-party keyboards that change the way you input text on your iPhone or iPad. From emoji, to GIFs and font fancy styling, iOS 8 is pretty much supportive.

Apart from the most popular SwiftKey, Swipe, Flasky and Minuum keyboards, there are several other similar iOS apps, released and in fact make you amazed by what features can be picked into simple keyboard. Listed below, for you!

Before we go talk about the best iOS 8 keyboards, you will need to enable it after downloading a keyboard app. On your iPhone or iPad, navigate to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard. For most of the keyboards you will need to enable ‘Allow Full Access‘, which gives the app access to all of the data that you type on your device.

Once keyboard installed, tap and hold the globe icon in Apple’s default keyboard, and after that select one of the enabled keyboards. And now continue to download iOS 8 keyboard alternatives below!

If you want to chic up your instant messages. Riffy’s GIF Keyboard which is available as a freeware provides a fun way of doing so. Keyboard that allows you to search and select from over a million GIFs and videos that can be copied and pasted into iMessage, the text messages app, WhatsApp, Twitter, Messenger, the photo sharing app, SnapChat, and the Mail app.

Note: In the newly added keyboard settings, the app is named “Riffsy Keyboard”, instaed of “GIF Keyboard” or similar.

How to send GIFs using this Keyboard

Press and hold on a GIF and save it to one of your custom folders for later use. However, the GIF Keyboard also includes a keyboard (tap on the Aa button), so you don’t have to switch to another keyboard to type actual words.

Advanced using that you prefer with quick swipe keyboard, then you might like dressing up your messages with a different styling of fonts, which is exactly what Better Fonts provides. Pro version costs $4.99, in fact provides up to 115 fonts to choose from, including emojis, upside down text, bubble letters and many more.

Open the Better Fonts app to view the free and pro options. The app itself includes a notepad for typing and copying text.

Themes one your iOS 8 smartphones makes sense and which can be activated if your iPhone or iPad are jailbroken and installed Winterboard Cydia tweak on it. If you fancy changing the color theme of your keyboard like changing your clothes, BrightKey makes it possible. Free version of BrightKey iOS app includes five vibrant colors to choose from, and eight other themes (3 metals and 5 woods) for purchase.

With two other awesome features, BrightKey got Swipe up from its spacebar and it reveals a set of snippet messages you can easily and quickly paste into a text box. Plus, while long-pressing on the space bar, you can imminently slide the cursor between characters. Functions like this could highly useful on any third-party keyboard.

This new keyboard, Fancy Texts also provides a wide variety of free and paid font collections that can spice up your messages and comments and in apps like iMessage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Messages can be composed in the Fancy Texts app itself, and copied, pasted in other apps as well.

Its more than a keyboard, developed for those who want to build and perfect their English writing skills. Ginger Keyboard is similar to what Apple’s defaul keyboard offers, but the Ginger also includes predictive words, and on the other hand includes auto-correction and auto-capitalization. In order to make full use of this app, you need to sign up on the Ginger website, which can be done through the app itself.

Registration provides access to Ginger’s proofreading, dictionary, suggested grammar corrections, language translations, and other contextual synonym and definition tools. Tapping on ‘G’ icon, your typed or selected text will be copied and analyzed on Ginger’s online application where it will make suggestions for perfection in your text, or using it for translating it to another language. Includes a text-to-voice reader too.

The online site can be opened from the keyboard, which also includes fifteen keyboard themes to choose from, and eventually allows for creating new themes as well. The site although providing handy tutorials for getting the most out of the app.

I am not advising you to go forward and download the aforementioned alternative iOS 8 keyboard apps, but if you are thinking of any replacement, here are some to choose from.

Tip: in the keyboard Settings, arrange third-party keyboards starting with your favorite one at the top. When you switch between keyboards, the one at the top will show up first. So, you should also remove any you don’t use, as they’re bound to just get in the way and frustate you when you accidentally enable them.